Auto repair shop break-even calculator sales and cars a day
List your monthly fixed costs and enter your gross profit %, average repair order and working days to see the sales and cars a day you need to break even, and to hit a profit target.
Monthly fixed costs
| Total fixed costs | - |
Costs you pay whether or not a car comes in. If your gross profit already takes out technician pay, leave tech pay out of this list so it isn't counted twice.
Your numbers
The figures filled in are examples. Use your own from your monthly report.
Break-even sales = monthly fixed costs ÷ gross profit percent. With $47,000 of fixed costs and a 55% gross profit, you need $85,455 in sales a month. Divide by your average repair order, $450, for 190 repair orders, or 8.6 cars a day over 22 days. For a $10,000 profit, add it to fixed costs: $103,636, or 10.5 cars a day.
How to use the Auto Repair Shop Break-Even Calculator
List fixed costs
Rent, salaries not on repair orders, insurance, utilities, software, marketing and loan payments, a month.
Enter GP%, ARO and days
Your blended gross profit %, average repair order and working days in a month.
Read your targets
Break-even sales, repair orders and cars a day, the same for a profit target, and profit at today's car count.
What the auto repair shop break-even calculator works out
Break-even sales
Fixed costs ÷ gross profit %, a month and a year.
Car count to break even
Repair orders a month and cars a working day at your ARO.
Profit target
The sales and cars a day for the monthly profit you want.
Today's position
Sales and profit or loss at your current cars a day.
Itemized fixed costs
Nine editable lines that add up as you type.
- Break-even sales
- fixed costs ÷ gross profit %
- Repair orders
- break-even sales ÷ average repair order
- Cars a day
- repair orders ÷ working days
- Target sales
- (fixed costs + target profit) ÷ gross profit %
- Assumes
- Gross profit % after parts and tech pay works as the contribution margin
Questions about the auto repair shop break-even calculator
How do I calculate my shop's break-even point?
How many cars a day do I need to break even?
What counts as a fixed cost?
What gross profit percent should I use?
Is this a forecast?
Where the formulas and rules come from
Checked October 2026. Estimate only. Shop metric definitions vary; use the same ones you use on your monthly report.
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